The transfer of information over computer networks has become an increasingly important means by which institutions, corporations, and individuals do business. Computer networks have grown over the years from independent and isolated entities established to serve the needs of a single group into vast internets which interconnect disparate physical networks and allow them to function as a coordinated system. Currently, the largest computer network in existence is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide interconnection of computer networks that communicate using a common protocol. Millions of computers, from low end personal computers to high end super computers, are connected to the Internet.
The Internet has emerged as a large community of electronically connected users located around the world who readily and regularly exchange significant amounts of information. The Internet continues to serve its original purposes of providing for access to and exchange of information among government agencies, laboratories, and universities for research and education. In addition, the Internet has evolved to serve a variety of interests and forums that extend beyond its original goals. In particular, the Internet is rapidly transforming into a global electronic marketplace of goods and services as well as of ideas and information.
This transformation of the Internet into a global marketplace was driven in large part by the introduction of an information system known as the World Wide Web (“the web”). The web is a unique distributed database designed to give wide access to a large universe of documents. The database records of the web are in the form of documents known as “pages.” These pages reside on web servers and are accessible via the Internet. The web is therefore a vast database of information dispersed across countless individual computer systems that is constantly changing and has no recognizable organization or morphology. Computers connected to the Internet may access the web pages via a program known as a browser, which has a powerful, simple-to-learn graphical user interface. One powerful technique supported by the web browser is known as hyperlinking, which permits web page authors to create links to other web pages which users can then retrieve by using simple point-and-click commands on the web browser.
The pages may be constructed in any one of a variety of formatting conventions, such as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), and may include multimedia information content such as graphics, audio, and moving pictures. Any person with a computer and a connection to the Internet may access any publicly accessible page posted on the web. Thus, a presence on the web has the capability to introduce a worldwide base of consumers to businesses, individuals, and institutions seeking to advertise their products and services to potential customers, or to distribute or promote information. Furthermore, the ever increasing sophistication in the design of web pages, made possible by the exponential increase in data transmission rates and computer processing speeds, makes the web an increasingly attractive medium for advertising and other business purposes, as well as for the free flow of information.
The availability of powerful new tools that facilitate the development and distribution of Internet content has led to a proliferation of information, products, and services offered on the Internet and dramatic growth in the number of consumers using the Internet. International Data Corporation, commonly referred to as IDC, estimates that the number of Internet users will grow from approximately 97 million worldwide in 1998 to approximately 320 million worldwide by the end of 2002. In addition, commerce conducted over the Internet has grown and is expected to grow dramatically. IDC estimates that the percentage of Internet users buying goods and services on the Internet will increase from approximately 28% at the end of 1998 to approximately 40% in 2002, and that over the same period of time, the total value of goods and services purchased over the Internet will increase from approximately $32.4 billion to approximately $425.7 billion.
The Internet has emerged as an attractive new medium for businesses and advertisers of information, products and services to reach these large numbers of consumers. However, the web is composed of a seemingly limitless number of web pages dispersed across millions of different computer systems all over the world in no discernible organization. Search services or mechanisms, such as directories and search engines, have been developed to index and search the information available on the web and thereby help Internet users locate information of interest. These search services enable consumers to search the Internet for a listing of web sites based on a specific topic, product, or service of interest.
Search services are second only to e-mail as the most frequently used tool on the Internet. As a result, web sites providing search services offer advertisers significant reach into the Internet audience and give advertisers the opportunity to target consumer interests based on keyword or topical search requests. Advertisers, of course, have an interest in participating in search result listings. They generally seek to maximize exposure and traffic, while managing any costs associated with such exposure in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
Generally, in a web-based search on an Internet search engine, a user enters a search term comprising one or more keywords, which the search engine then uses to generate a listing of web pages that the user may access via a hyperlink. There are many ways in which a search engine can return the result listings. There are search engines that use automated search technology, which relies in large part on complex, mathematics-based database search algorithms that select and rank web pages based on multiple criteria such as keyword density and keyword location. These search engines frequently catalog search results that rely on invisible web site descriptions, or “meta tags”, that are authored by web site promoters. It is not uncommon for web site owners to freely tag their sites as they choose in an attempt to attract additional consumer attention at little to no marginal cost. Other search engines and web site directories may also rely on manual efforts of limited editorial staffs to review web page information. No matter what the process, however, web page owners seek to target their web exposure and distribute information to the attention of interested users on a current and comprehensive basis, while maintaining costs or monitoring pre-determined budgets.
One known effort that has been used by advertisers to generate web site traffic is banner advertising, where web site promoters seeking to promote and increase their web exposure by purchasing space on the pages of popular commercial web sites. The web site promoters usually fill this space with a colorful graphic, known as a banner, advertising their own web site and acting as a hyperlink for a visitor to click to access the site. Banners may be displayed at every page access or may be targeted to search terms on a search engine. Like traditional advertising, banner advertising on the Internet is typically priced on an impression basis with advertisers paying for exposures to potential consumers.
Internet advertising can offer a level of targetability, interactivity, and measurability not generally available in other media. With the proper tools, Internet advertisers have the ability to target their messages to specific groups of consumers, receive prompt feedback as to the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns, and monitor any costs associated in the process. Many of the traditional paradigms of advertising and search engine algorithms fail to maximize the delivery of relevant information via the web to interested parties in a cost-effective manner for the advertiser. Ideally, web site promoters (advertisers) should be able to control their participation or placement in search result listings so that their listings appear in searches that are relevant to the content of their web site and any associated costs are effectively monitored. Search engine functionality needs to facilitate an on-line marketplace which offers consumers quick, easy and relevant search results while providing Internet advertisers and promoters with a more cost-effective way to target consumers and monitor costs. In this on-line marketplace, companies selling products, services, or information will appear in positions on a search result list generated by an Internet search engine for effective costs or spending allowances.
Since advertisers generally want to maximize results and minimize costs, advertisers have an incentive to select search keywords that are most relevant to their web site offerings and manage costs in using or promoting selected keywords. In one search engine model, for example, advertisers pay for each click through referral generated from the search result lists generated by the search engine. Such a search engine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,361, issued Jul. 31, 2001 to Davis, et al., and entitled “System and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine”. The higher an advertiser's position on a search result list, the higher the likelihood that that advertiser will get a “referral.” The likelihood that a consumer will be referred to the advertiser's web site through the search result list is directly related to the advertiser's position in the search result list.
The search engine provider may maintain accounts for each advertiser, also called a web site promoter. Because large numbers of charges may accrue for an account in a short period of time, maintaining an accurate and up-to-date account database is not only important, but can be invaluable. Existing account monitoring methods often result in advertisements being over-delivered and the advertiser's account being overcharged. Since advertisers may have established predetermined limits for certain charges, the search provider may not be reimbursed for the services provided to the advertiser beyond the advertiser's predetermined limit. Further, competing advertisers, which are paying for chargeable events after a competitor's limit has been reached, may be unnecessarily spending money for participation or priority placement in the search result listings if the non-paying advertiser's listing is still considered active.